Cultural Plan

What the plan looks like will depend on the outcome required. Is it a whole of council Cultural Plan that will sit alongside the Corporate, Operating and other council plans? Or is it a cultural plan for a particular building, a community group, or an organisation?

Prior to any planning process it is important to get commitment from all stakeholders including Councillors, the Chief Executive Officer and council staff who will have carriage of implementing the plan once it is produced.

The cultural plan should reflect the vision and aspirations of the broader community it represents, together with the strategies of how these will be achieved, usually over 3-5 years. This is why inclusive and broad reaching cultural planning consultations are so important.  If the cultural plan does not encapsulate the issues of the broader community, including our first people, multicultural groups and special needs groups its implementation can hardly serve the community it represents.

The cultural plan can vary depending on what it is for and who will be using it.  The cultural plan most frequently used by local government, is a cultural strategic plan, which is the format we will explore further.

A Cultural Strategic Plan:

• A Strategic Plan within a Cultural Framework responding to community issues
• An Action Plan with a timeline and key drivers
• The identification of the resources necessary to carry out the plan
   

Cultural plan format
The cultural plan format will usually be designed by Council in collaboration with a consultant and community reference group. In broad terms, it may include some or all of the following: Strategic Plan; Mission, Vision, Purpose, SWOT, themes, goals, objectives, strategies, budget, resources, qualitative data, quantitative data.

In summary a strategic cultural plan should:

• Assess the existing situation, trends, needs and opportunities (the SWOT) of conduct an Asset Analysis of the community
• Consult all sectors of the community
• Identify key issues or themes and priorities
• Set goals and objectives
• Develop strategies to achieve them
• Propose courses of action to implement these strategies
• Assemble resources required for implementation
• Establish an implementation committee to oversee this stage of the process.
• When you read the above, it is obvious that the cultural plan needs extensive community consultation, which is why most cultural plans can take from six months to two years before they are ready to be implemented.
   

Participatory process in a Local Government area
Once a decision has been made to review an existing cultural plan or produce a new one, some initial work needs to be done within Council:

• Council may decide to oversee all the consultations using council staff and a community stakeholder group
• they might bring in a consultant to do this work
• or decide on a blended model.
   

The outcome of these decisions will depend on variables such as: time, financial and human resources, the scope of the work involved and the Council’s expectations.

It is during the planning stage that a decision will be reached about the best process to use.  The Council may have their own process for developing a cultural plan, tried and tested with previous Stakeholder Committees; or if they use an external consultant, the consultant may introduce their own process in collaboration with Council and community. 

A basic participatory process might include:

• Stakeholder group formed
• Planning scope, timeline, milestones and key performance indicators (KPIs) outlined
• Target groups identified and appropriate consultation processes designed
• Communication plan developed
• Consultations and mapping conducted
• Consolidated data prepared and provided to Stakeholder Committee
• Additional consultations and mapping, if required
• Themes identified, goals, objectives and strategies agreed
• Action plan and budget devised
• Draft report presented to stakeholder group, Council and wider community for feedback
• Final draft presented to Council for ratification
• Process for review and monitoring of the plan put in place
• Implementation committee nominated
• Cultural plan launch
• Implementation begins!
   

Three other processes are referenced in the resources below: CANWA, Claremont and Grogan and Mercer but there are many others.

Resources
Community Arts Network Western Australia (CANWA) has formed their own model for cultural planning, which they use to work with local government in Western Australia - http://www.canwa.com.au/canwa-resources/publications/research-evaluation/

Grogan D. and Mercer C. The Cultural Planning Handbook: An Essential Australian Guide, Arts Queensland. 1995.

Stakeholder Groups
Whichever process is used, a community Stakeholder Group should be formed.  The Stakeholder Group usually comprises representatives from across the community, who will work with council staff to provide input into the planning process.  They do not replace the consultations, but can provide guidance on the process and content.  Your Stakeholder Group will only be as effective as the people you select; therefore, you need to make sure you get the best people for the job.  One way to do this is to use a Stakeholder Analysis tool.

There are many resources available on how to do a Stakeholder Analysis. A few online resources are listed below.

Resources
Stakeholder Analysis, Bob Dick
A step-by-step description of a method which can be used for a stakeholder analysis. 
www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/arp/stake.html

This resource provides a simple process with a Stakeholder Analysis Matrix
http://erc.msh.org/quality/ittools/itstkan.cfm

This resource provides a more comprehensive process for analysing potential stakeholders.  The resource is for aid projects and programmes, but could readily be used for other areas such as cultural planning.
www.euforic.org/gb/stake1.htm#stake

Cultural Planning Resources
Cultural Planning Guidelines for Local Government
These Guidelines outline the principles which underlie cultural planning.
www.dlg.nsw.gov.au/dlg/dlghome/documents/Information/CPG-final.pdf

Local Gov and Shires Associations of NSW – have links to all the Councils who have produced cultural policies and plans in NSW - www.lgsa.org.au/www/html/239-cultural-policies-and-plans-in-local-government.asp

Pittwater Council
Provides an extensive profile of the work they have done with regards to their community.
www.pittwater.nsw.gov.au/community/pittwaters_cultural_plan